Working at the Sainte-Trinite

The devil's voice is heard in Messiaen's music presented by Donald Macleod

Olivier Messiaen was the single most important contributor to the organ repertoire in the twentieth century. He took up learning the organ whilst he was a student in Paris, and was fortunate to hear virtuoso organists around the city including Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré. Aged just twenty-two, he succeeded Charles Quef as titular organist at the Sainte-Trinité in Paris. Messiaen remained in this post for over sixty years, composing many solo works for the organ that pushed the instrument to its very limits. He rose to become one of the leading composers in France, and also a worldwide musical celebrity. This week Donald Macleod focuses each day on one specific organ work Messiaen composed, whilst exploring the period in which it was written along with those other instrumental works from the same time.

In 1931 Messiaen was appointed the youngest titular organist in Paris, at Sainte-Trinité. Members of the congregation were alarmed by his occasional adventurous and dissonant improvisation at the organ, and some claimed they could hear the devil's voice emerging from the organ pipes. It was in these early years, after leaving his studies at the Paris Conservatoire, that he composed his orchestral work Le tombeau resplendissant. Messiaen said of this work that he wanted to write a kind of Beatitude for those who discover in their faith something more than the illusion of distant youth. The following year, 1932, he married the violinist Claire Delbos, who was the daughter of a professor at the Sorbonne University. His wedding gift to his new bride was a chamber work, a Theme and Variations for them both to play together on the violin and piano. By 1934 Messiaen had completed a new work for solo organ called L'Ascension. Originally for orchestra, he transcribed this piece for organ adding a new third movement. Like so many of his compositions, L'Ascension is deeply rooted within Messiaen's own Christian beliefs.

Livre d'orgue (2nd mvt Première pièce en trio)
Olivier Messiaen, organ

Le Tombeau resplendissant
Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille
Myung-Whun Chung, conductor

Theme and Variations
Maxim Vengerov, violin
Itamar Golan, piano

L'Ascension
Thomas Trotter, organ

Producer Luke Whitlock.